Originally posted by tspg:
Do we need an opposition like them ?
Read what they post on there website and decide for yourself.
http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/index.php?id=headlines.html
For those who are afraid to enter
the virus infected website, here is one of the articles extracted
from the stated SDP site:
The glorious
years according to Mr Goh II
17 August 2004
Far away on another planet, a former leader of a country called
Singapore celebrated the end of his reign, claiming his 14-year
tenure as a glorious one. Curiously, there was another country
also by the name of Singapore on planet earth. This former leader,
Mr Goh Chok Tong, seemed to have confused the two.
One dead giveaway was his claim that under his leadership,
Singapore had become a kinder and gentler place. The Singapore
that earthling Singaporeans are familiar with could not be any more
different.
Not even close
For example, it was reported that a family had to bathe in [a]
public toilet because the water supply had been reduced to a
trickle and the electricity disconnected because the occupant of
the flat, a retrenched worker, a Ms Dilaram, said: I have no money
even to buy candles. (ST, Apr 12, 2003)
The governments response? Power supply is not a welfare
organization, said former DPM and current PM Lee Hsien Loong. (ST,
Mar 13, 2003)
As if competing to outdo each other on the meanness scale, Minister
Lim Hng Kiang said that for Singaporeans older than 60, with no
income, or are from families with incomes below $1000" their
subsidies for overstaying in a hospital would be cut off. "If
these patients want to treat hospitals like a hotel, he snorted,
then they'll have to be charged hotel rates." (ST, March 1,
2002)
Mr Lim was on a roll. A couple of months later he declared that he
regretted an intervention he made to admit a prematurely born baby
into KKH because the baby continued to be in intensive care, and
KKH now runs a bill of more than $300,000." (ST, May 21, 2002) If
this is kinder and gentler, we hate to see what cold and pragmatic
means.
In 2003, more than 3,000 Singaporeans have applied for a
government assistance scheme in the first two weeks of the
year...but no one has qualified." (ST, Jan 26, 2003)
With ministers showing how tough they can be, Mr Goh Chok Tong had
to polish up his hard side lest he be pushed out of his leadership
role: "...the PAP is not going to become soft and effete under my
leadership. If the party were getting soft underneath, you can be
sure I would not be here talking to you. I would be pushed out."
(Asiaweek, 2000)
Opening up?
Mr Goh claims that under his rule, political and civil space has
opened up. How? Let us count the ways.
In 1999, Mr Gohs government scanned the computers of nearly half
the Internet subscribers in Singapore without their knowledge
ostensibly to determine if the systems are vulnerable to hacker
attacks. (South China Morning Post, May 1, 1999)
Two years later, the government ordered a popular website,
Sintercom, to register as a political website. Sintercom refused
and decided to close down instead. (Reuters, July 18, 2001) A few
years later, another think-tank, Roundtable, disbanded. (ST, Apr
13, 2004)
Not long after, Mr Goh passed a law forbidding campaigning over the
Internet and barring the publication of opinion polls during a
general election. (Reuters, August 13, 2001) He even prohibited the
use of short message service to send political messages during
elections!
Under his watch election boundary redrawing reached new heights
(think Marine Parade GRC and Braddell Heights). He introduced the
Political Donations Act, which in effect killed off any meaningful
funding for the opposition. He threatened voters with HDB upgrading
in 1997, gave them shares to convert to cash on the eve of polling
in 2001, and increased the election deposit for election candidates
further crippling the oppositions ability to compete in
elections.
All this resulted in the number of opposition candidates at an
all-time low in the 2001 GE. (2001 walkover 66.8%, 1997 walkover
59.3%, 1991 walkover 49.9%).
(http://www.singapore-elections.com/)
But why should we be surprised? Mr Goh boasted: I believe we have
found a good way to keep Singapore going, and Singaporeans have
accepted it. They don't buy the line that you must have an
opposition in Parliament." (ST, Nov 4, 2001) Opening up?
Together with others in his party, Mr Goh sued and made bankrupt
Messrs Tang Liang Hong and J. B. Jeyaretnam, and is in the process
of doing the same to Dr Chee Soon Juan. He also took legal action
against the International Herald Tribune and The Economist and
prosecuted professor Christopher Lingle for an op-ed piece that the
academic wrote. He detained Mr Robert Ho for his Internet posts and
then later confiscated Mr Hos computer and investigated the
internet activist for criminal defamation. The same treatment was
meted out to another activist Zulfikar Mohd.
Application after application for permits to hold public gatherings
made by groups such as the Open Singapore Centre, Think Centre, and
the Fun Stage (drama group) were denied. Even an application to
hold a public event to mark International Day Against Violence
Against Women was turned down. (ST, Nov 22, 2003)
All this kindness and gentleness has had a lasting effect on the
countrys youth: "Youths averse to disagree with Government...most
of the 800 young Singaporeans in Singapore Polytechnic said they
were uncomfortable doing so. In fact, only 14 per cent had no
qualms speaking out. Apathy was the main reason...fear appeared to
be another reason." (ST, Feb 26 2003)
As for Mr Goh being more consultative, 80 per cent...felt strongly
that the Government was not willing to listen and consider
differing views." (ST, June 19, 2002)
Advice from the old to the new
With such serious problems with Singapores economic and political
systems, and the dismal state of peoples lives, one would imagine
that the former prime minister would have important words of
caution for the incoming one. Instead, all Mr Goh could impart was
that Loong should wear more red shirts to soften his image.
(National Day Rally speech, 2003)
Calling PAP leaders, you need to visit our Singapore a little more
often.
